SQL SELECT OR Operator

This SQL tutorial explains and helps us understand how to use the OR operator in the SELECT query with examples.

The OR operator in the Structured Query Language is used to retrieve the data from the table if one of the expressions is true in the query.

For example, a student's mark is greater than 80 OR student resides in the 'Hyderabad' city. Here student mark is greater than 80, but the city reside in 'Pune’, and then student data is displayed because one of the given condition is true, i.e., the mark is greater than 80.

Syntax of the SQL SELECT OR Operator is as follows:

SELECT Column_Name_1, Column_Name_2, Column_Name_3. Column_Name_4, Column_Name_5 FROM Table_Name WHERE Column_Name = Value OR Column_Name =Value;

Column name in the expression can be same or different.

Let’s understand the SQL SELECT OR Operator with the help of examples.

Consider the already existing table named Diploma_Student:

Student_Id	Student_Name	First_Sem	Second_Sem	Third_Sem	Fourth_Sem	Fifth_Sem	Sixth_Sem	Total	Department_Id
202111	Vaishnavi Patil	94	91	88	85	95	92	91	1
202112	Vaibhav Lokhande	85	90	92	80	85	82	86	2
202113	Yash Dhull	90	88	94	87	85	90	89	3
202114	Sonali Patole	95	90	92	88	92	90	91	4
202115	Axar Patel	85	80	82	86	92	84	85	1
202116	Meena Mishra	78	75	80	74	85	77	78	3
202117	Mahesh Kumbhar	75	80	75	78	80	76	77	5
202118	Sakashi Patil	80	78	74	78	80	77	78	2
202119	Sopan Bhore	70	68	75	75	80	80	75	2
202220	Prajwal Lokhande	80	85	85	75	78	80	81	4
202221	Anuja Wanare	85	88	86	82	84	85	85	5
202222	Venkatesh Iyer	90	89	87	90	92	91	90	3
202223	Anushka Sen	70	75	71	74	80	78	75	1
202224	Aakash Jain	80	75	72	74	85	80	78	4
202225	Akshay Agarwal	85	80	78	88	90	82	84	5

Example 1: Execute a query to display the student details where student first Semester percentage is greater than 80 OR student name starts with the letter 'A'.

SELECT * FROM Diploma_Student WHERE First_Sem > 80 OR Student_Name LIKE 'A%';

In the above SELECT OR Operator query example, we displayed the student details where the student's first-semester percentage is greater than 80 or the student name starts with the letter 'A'. Here, the student percentage is greater than 80, but the name didn't start with the letter 'A' record get the display.

The output of the above query is as follows:

Student_Id	Student_Name	First_Sem	Second_Sem	Third_Sem	Fourth_Sem	Fifth_Sem	Sixth_Sem	Total	Department_Id
202111	Vaishnavi Patil	94	91	88	85	95	92	91	1
202112	Vaibhav Lokhande	85	90	92	80	85	82	86	2
202113	Yash Dhull	90	88	94	87	85	90	89	3
202114	Sonali Patole	95	90	92	88	92	90	91	4
202115	Axar Patel	85	80	82	86	92	84	85	1
202221	Anuja Wanare	85	88	86	82	84	85	85	5
202222	Venkatesh Iyer	90	89	87	90	92	91	90	3
202223	Anushka Sen	70	75	71	74	80	78	75	1
202224	Aakash Jain	80	75	72	74	85	80	78	4
202225	Akshay Agarwal	85	80	78	88	90	82	84	5

Example 2: Execute a query to display student details where the overall percentage is between 80 and 90 OR sixth semester greater than 85.

SELECT * FROM Diploma_Student WHERE Total BETWEEN 80 AND 90 OR Sixth_Sem > 85;

In the above SELECT OR Operator query example, we displayed the student details where the overall student percentage is between 80 and 90, OR the sixth-semester percentage is greater than 85. We have used the BETWEEN Operator with the OR operator in this query.

The output of the above query is as follows:

Student_Id	Student_Name	First_Sem	Second_Sem	Third_Sem	Fourth_Sem	Fifth_Sem	Sixth_Sem	Total	Department_Id
202111	Vaishnavi Patil	94	91	88	85	95	92	91	1
202112	Vaibhav Lokhande	85	90	92	80	85	82	86	2
202113	Yash Dhull	90	88	94	87	85	90	89	3
202114	Sonali Patole	95	90	92	88	92	90	91	4
202115	Axar Patel	85	80	82	86	92	84	85	1
202220	Prajwal Lokhande	80	85	85	75	78	80	81	4
202221	Anuja Wanare	85	88	86	82	84	85	85	5
202222	Venkatesh Iyer	90	89	87	90	92	91	90	3
202225	Akshay Agarwal	85	80	78	88	90	82	84	5

Example 3: Execute a query to display student details where student fifth-semester percentage is greater than 85 OR department name contains 'ec’ anywhere in the name.

SELECT * FROM Diploma_Student WHERE Fifth_Sem > 85 OR Department_Id IN (SELECT Department_Id FROM Department WHERE Department_Name LIKE '%ec%');        

In the above SELECT OR Operator query example, we displayed student details where student fifth-semester percentage is greater than 85 or student department name contain 'ec' anywhere in the name. We have used a subquery in the above example. First, the inner query gets executed, then the outer query is executed.

The output of the above query is as follows:

Student_Id	Student_Name	First_Sem	Second_Sem	Third_Sem	Fourth_Sem	Fifth_Sem	Sixth_Sem	Total	Department_Id
202111	Vaishnavi Patil	94	91	88	85	95	92	91	1
202112	Vaibhav Lokhande	85	90	92	80	85	82	86	2
202113	Yash Dhull	90	88	94	87	85	90	89	3
202114	Sonali Patole	95	90	92	88	92	90	91	4
202115	Axar Patel	85	80	82	86	92	84	85	1
202116	Meena Mishra	78	75	80	74	85	77	78	3
202118	Sakashi Patil	80	78	74	78	80	77	78	2
202119	Sopan Bhore	70	68	75	75	80	80	75	2
202222	Venkatesh Iyer	90	89	87	90	92	91	90	3
202225	Akshay Agarwal	85	80	78	88	90	82	84	5